Kip Cranna PART 2: Opera as a living art form

Kip Cranna
Photo: Scott Wall

INTERVIEW: Kip Cranna

San Francisco War Memorial Opera House

ERICA MINER 

KC: Next came David Gockley, who had been running Houston Grand Opera for many years and established a reputation of commissioning lots of operas. He carried that forward when he came here. I knew him somewhat. I’d been involved back in the mid 90s when he commissioned an opera on Harvey Milk. He wanted to make sure San Francisco Opera became part of that. It did, along with New York City Opera. In traveling to Houston discussing this opera’s development I met David. It was fascinating working with him. In his mind, his gift to the company during his tenure was survival. He knew the economic future of opera in our American financial system had many challenges and felt it was important to put the company on a firm financial basis. He succeeded with that, despite the subprime mortgage debacle in 2008, which again threw everything into a financial tizzy but we subsequently recovered. A few operas during his tenure were Appomattox by Philip Glass; Bonesetter’s Daughter from Stewart Wallace; Heart of a Soldier from Chris Theofanidis; Secret Garden from Nolan Gasser; Mary Magdalene from Mark Adamo; Dolores Claiborne, Tobias Picker; Two Women, Marco Tutino; and Dream of the Red Chamber by Bright Sheng.

David Gockley
Photo: Courtesy San Francisco Opera

EM: Yes, this current season.

KC: David’s other great accomplishment was establishing the Wilsey Center next door to the opera house, in the War Memorial Veterans Building, consolidating a lot of different areas of the company in one space with a wonderful performing and rehearsal space that used to be the Sculpture Court of the Museum of Modern Art, now the Atrium Theatre. We owe it to David’s perseverance in pushing through that project, raising money for it.

EM: I’ve seen it. It’s spectacular.

KC: He also pioneered High-Definition television, raising money to establish a permanent HD facility, hidden cameras to capture things robotically without cameramen getting in the way. As a result, we were able to produce some DVDs and “Plaza Casts.” In Houston in the evening, you can sit outside the opera house and watch a simulcast. When he first suggested that here, he said, “I want to do a simulcast of Madame Butterfly at Civic Center Plaza outside City Hall, a block away from the opera house.” I said, “David, it’s cold at night in San Francisco. The fog rolls in.” [Laughs.] He said, “I don’t care, we’ll do it.” It was quite successful. We had several thousand people out there in parkas and sleeping bags [Laughs]. Later years we moved this to the ballpark where San Francisco Giants play.

EM: I’ve heard those are great events.

KC: David brought with him from Houston this young Englishman Matthew Shilvock, who I’d got to know quite well when he was briefly in San Francisco years earlier as an intern with Opera America, who sends them for brief residencies to various companies. He had gone to Houston, stayed there and joined the staff. A brilliant guy.

EM: He is indeed.

Matthew Shilvock
Photo: Sasha Arutyunova

KC: Very good with things like union negotiations, orchestra personnel matters et al. He really knows the ins and outs of the opera business, very detail oriented. I was quite thrilled when the board chose him to succeed David. He went into the job with his eyes open, knowing all the difficulties it entails and the looming financial challenges. Every year it gets a little harder to balance the budget. San Francisco’s a big union town. They make their best efforts for the best conditions for their members. Costs go up on all sides. We can’t raise ticket prices commensurate with that. Fundraisers fill the gap, particularly finding money from the Endowment to fill in that missing chunk. Matthew has his work cut out for him there. He’s done a lot of fascinating programming. This coming Centennial season, 2022-23, reflects that imagination and his respect for the history of the company as well as his forward-looking outlook.

EM: You’re doing another John Adams world premiere this season. 

Antony and Cleopatra Rehearsal:
John  Adams, Eu Sun Kim (conductor)
Photo: Kristen Loken

KC: Antony and Cleopatra will open the season, kick things off for the Centennial. And we’re bringing things back that had an important role in the company’s history. Dialogues of the Carmelites had its 1957 American premiere here shortly after its European premiere. Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten had its 1959 American debut here, another company hallmark. We’ve had a good reputation for featuring American artists in their debuts in repertoire that hadn’t been done in this country before. That was a very long answer to your question! [Laughs.]

EM: It was, but so much incredible information. Let’s talk in more detail about commissions.

KC: What was a fascinating challenge for me to watch was that in every situation the relationship and dynamic between composer and librettist tended to be different. How the composer treated the text, what sort of dramatic effect they were looking for, was always based on the individual artistic creativity of the composer. Only one composer, Mark Adamo, wrote his own libretto for Mary Magdalene. In other cases, I did some refereeing, as in Streetcar between André and Philip, but mostly facilitating, making sure the communication went back and forth, contracts signed, checks were cut when deadlines were met. In some cases, it was dealing with a literary source, like the Tennessee Williams estate or dealing with publishers and trying to persuade them it was a good idea to license their work for development as an opera. To some extent input from the general director was also a factor. David was very hands-on with composers and librettists, telling them straight out what he thought worked and what didn’t. Sometimes it was up to me to encourage a compromise, a meeting of the minds to move the project forward. Fascinating experience in every case.

EM: What part did you play in supertitles, when was it, and how did patrons and press initially react to this phenomenon?

KC: I take no credit at all for the idea. That came from Francesca Zambello, an assistant director with the company, in 1983; and Jerry Sherk, our production stage manager at the time, who unfortunately died of cancer a few years ago. We were developing the Lehnhoff Ring—in 1983 Rheingold and Walküre, in 1984 Siegfried and finally the whole Ring in 1985. In 1983 Francesca was doing a student matinee of La Traviata. In those days when we had a standard rep piece during the main season it was common to use our young singers in the Adler Fellowship Program to do a low-priced family version of a show, sometimes in English. Francesca persuaded Terry McEwen we should do supertitles, which had been tried already in Europe, at New York City Opera and Canadian Opera in Toronto. It was quite a phenomenon in Traviata with the students and families.

Francesca  Zambello

The technology by today’s standards was primitive. You printed out a script and literally took a picture of the supertitle. It was developed onto a slide which you slid onto a carousel. I was involved writing scripts when we started doing supertitles for other shows. We learned by doing, that you could make terrible mistakes by getting your phrasing wrong. But it was a revolutionary approach and the audiences embraced it quite soon. 

When we did the Ring in 1985, some cycles had supertitles and some not. The ones with supertitles sold more quickly. We realized people were voting with their pocketbooks and wanted the shows with titles, a great audience pleaser. Lots of challenges, of course. In those days a carousel could only hold 70 slides. When you were writing your script and got into the 60s you had to find a spot that didn’t need titles, typically a long orchestral interlude or repeated passage in a chorus, to put in a new carousel. The carousels had to be kept warm, otherwise the slides would have moisture on them and were cloudy when being showed. You wrapped them in an electric blanket before showing. Now of course it’s done digitally with things like PowerPoint. Then, if you wanted to change a slide, it was a big deal. In rehearsal if the slide said, “Take this dagger and stab me in the heart!” but the person is holding a sword or gun, you had to change that title. But that meant printing it out, taking a picture of it, going to Walgreens, and getting it developed onto a slide [Laughs], numbering the slide, making sure it’s in the right order, not upside down or backwards, and getting it onto the carousel. Now it’s done instantly.

EM: Sounds like quite an ordeal.

KC: I was very pleased to be present at the creation of supertitles, but I give credit to Francesca and Jerry for pushing the idea forward. I think it revolutionized the approach to opera. Many people had been going to opera and viewing in a kind of ceremonial manner not really knowing what was going on. Kind of like attending a Mass in Latin [Laughs], not quite sure what’s happening but enjoying it anyway. It brought a much greater degree of audience involvement into the plotlines. I wrote a lot of supertitle scripts and became editor-in-chief of supertitles. I started noticing how important it was to make sure the titles matched the action. I still sometimes attend performances in theatres where not a lot of attention is paid to that. A good example is if a character says, “This letter will prove she’s innocent,” but at that time the letter has already been handed over to the other person, then the title needs to be “That letter proves she’s innocent.” Subtleties like that make the supertitle really improve the opera experience rather than go against it. It’s a certain cognitive distance when the reading doesn’t make sense compared to what you’ve witnessed onstage.

EM: That’s even more complicated than I imagined. Can you talk more about the season, including the Bay Area premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank’s opera along with old favorites?

Gabriela Lena Frank
Photo: Mariah Tauger

KC: John Adams is a Bay Area resident, and we have done all his major operas in the theatre. Antony and Cleopatra is the 3rd world premiere of his we’re doing. We’re part of the original commissioners of Klinghoffer. We’ve done Nixon, Doctor Atomic. Girls of the Golden West, now Antony and Cleopatra, those last three all world premieres of his works. The newest comes from Shakespeare but John is adapting the text himself with dramaturg Lucia Scheckner. That’s a really exciting addition to the repertoire, a good way to kick off a season. 

Eun Sun Kim
Photo: Sasha Arutyunova

I’ve already mentioned our long history with Russian operas. Russian opera has always had a big following here, lots of fans, and we’ve had good success. We first did Onegin in 1971, I believe in English. This is an exciting back entry representation of Russian opera in our season. Onegin is one of my 10 favorite operas.

EM: One of my top 5. What others are coming up?

KC: Carmelites. We’ve done the American premiere. On our website are audio clips I selected if you want to know what these operas sound like. The recordings are from a 1982 performance in English with a very young Carol Vaness as Blanche, Leontyne Price as the Prioress. It’s fascinating to go back that far, 40 years ago, hearing these historical broadcasts, realizing we’re honoring the past but going forward with a new production coming from the Champs Elysées in Paris. 

Traviata, our standard rep, these basic pieces that have to come around every 3 or 4 years. It’s important to revitalize the repertoire there. This is a new production by Shawna Lucey, who’s had a good role working with us in the past. She’s now general director of San José Opera here in the Bay Area. We’re glad to have her involved in this new production. Traviata was part of the 2nd season here, 1924, with Claudia Muzio. She opened the theatre when the company began in its new home at the War Memorial Opera House in 1932, singing Tosca. A big presence for the company. 

 La Traviata Act 1 

Model by Robert Innes Hopkins, prod. Shawna Lucey

We only did Gluck's Orpheus onstage once before, in 1959 with Blanche Thebom singing Orpheus as a trouser role. We did a concert version of Gluck’s French adaptation, Orphée, some years ago. There’s an audio recording of that but we didn’t stage it. This is the first time since the 50s we’ve staged this great historically important opera. 

Madame Butterfly, another new production, co-produced with Copenhagen and Dresden. This is also something that has to be in the rep every few years. Butterfly becomes more and more controversial because of its depiction of Asian artists onstage, but it’s just a great piece and deserves a hearing every so often. The company’s founder, Gaetano Merola, died conducting Un bel dì from that opera in a concert at Stern Grove, an outdoor amphitheater here. What a way to go.

Madame Butterfly
Tokyo Nikikiai Opera Foundation Chikashi Saegusa 

EM: And when the soprano was singing, “Morire.”

KC: Butterfly sings about how she’s going to greet Pinkerton when he comes up the hill to greet her, which of course he doesn’t do, but she’s waiting all night for him, thinking she’ll remain silent because she doesn’t want to die in her first encounter with him of the passion of the moment. Very operatic way for Maestro Merola to go.

Gaetano Merola, 1933

EM: You can’t make this stuff up.

KC: Really. It’s going to be exciting to see Frau ohne Schatten come back, a production from Los Angeles Opera that we are bringing here. Donald Runnicles, who was a longtime music director of the company, a famed Wagnerian who’s conducted all our recent Rings, will conduct this. Something to look forward to, Donald’s return.

Die Frau ohne Schatten
Photo: Robert Millard

Then we’re part of a consortium of commissioners with a new opera by Gabriela Lena Frank, a Bay Area artist of Peruvian ancestry. An imagining of the last days of the artist Diego Rivera, who sees a vision of his wife Frida Kahlo. It’s called The Last Dream of Frida and Diego, El Último sueño de Frida y Diego. This will be the first time ever that we’ve produced an opera in Spanish. I would say it’s about time. So, we start and end the season with new premieres, a fascinating way to bookend the season, the new embracing the old.

EM: What would you personally like to take away from this historical Centennial celebration?

KC: What I would urge everyone to take away from it is to embrace the ongoing vitality of opera, particularly in America, the creativity that American opera represents, along with honoring the fine tradition of producing the standard repertoire at the highest possible level. Opera is a living art form, not a museum, with creativity on all levels: fascinating new singers, new productions, exciting conductors, and invigorated repertoire. All these important elements that put together a season worth remembering.

EM: No question that this season will be memorable, Kip. I applaud you and everyone in the company for this immense effort. You have taken on enormously ambitious projects. The whole scope of the season is astonishing. I wish you all the most marvelous season ever.

KC: Thank you, Erica. We have a lot of work ahead, but it will be exciting to see it all come to fruition. 

War Memorial Opera House
Photo: Cesar Rubio

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Erica can be reached at: [email protected]

The Grimsleys and San Diego Opera: All in the Family

Photo: SORS Seattle

INTERVIEW: San Diego Opera

Civic Theatre

ERICA MINER

On Oct. 14, San Diego Opera’s 2017-2108 season will open with several firsts. Gilbert & Sullivan’s much-loved comedy, The Pirates of Penzance, will be the company’s first performances of English operetta. Perennial SDO favorite bass-baritone Greer Grimsley will share the stage with his real-life wife Luretta Bybee in her SDO debut.

Photo: SORS Seattle

The husband and wife team frequently have performed on stage together, most recently in Seattle Opera’s Flying Dutchman and in Sweeney Todd with Vancouver Opera. The excitement is palpable among San Diego opera lovers to witness this family collaboration in the SDO season opener at the Civic Theatre.

Erica Miner: As always, San Diego is thrilled that you’re coming back, Greer! We can’t get enough of you here. Since singing Scarpia here in Tosca in 2016, what are some of the highlights of your past year and a half?

Greer Grimsley: Oh my gosh. Right after the Tosca, Luretta and I were in Glimmerglass. Then I did the Finnish production of Götz Friedrich’s Walküre in Japan, went to Minnesota to do their new Rheingold and Siegfried. And I was at the Met. Now we’re home in New Orleans. 

EM: I recently interviewed Matthew Shilvock at San Francisco Opera. They’re so excited about your singing Wotan in their Ring next season. 

GG: I’m so excited about that. I’ve been friends with Francesca (Zambello) since we were both starting in the business. I am excited to take on her Ring. Though San Francisco is such a terrible place to be [Laughs]. 

EM: That Ring is going to be a major happening. 

GG: I think so. Oddly enough, a good friend of mine, Falk Struckmann, is going to be the Alberich. We first met at the beginning of our careers in Basel, Switzerland. I haven’t seen him much between then and when we saw each other at the Met for Fidelio. It was like very little time had passed. It was nice to be connected again. We’re going to be working together in San Francisco and Dallas, for Dutchman. 

EM: You and Luretta recently celebrated your 30th wedding anniversary. Congratulations! 

GG: Thank you! 

EM: Did you start performing together before or after you married? 

Luretta Bybee: We met on a tour with Houston Grand Opera, which used to be the old Texas Opera Theatre tour. He was singing Escamillo, I was singing Carmen. Then we synchronistically ended up on the Peter Brook Carmen tour. It was a real luxury to spend our first two years together working, a way to really get to know each other. It actually started 32 years ago. Most of that time, we were performing. 

EM: And somehow you found time to get married. 

GG: [Laughs] Two years after. 

LB: We got married in Central City, when I was performing Suzuki. 

EM: You’re performing Suzuki, and dealing with a married guy who leaves his first wife and marries someone else. That’s an interesting scenario. 

LB: I had been married once before, and Greer twice before. We were pretty much free and easy at that point and had no plans to get married in Central City. But the late conductor Mark Flint took it up on himself to plan our wedding, so we got married while we were there. 

EM: A conductor conducted your wedding, that’s amazing. 

GG: He actually ended up playing the organ for us in the service. In Central City. there’s a sweet old church right across the street from the opera house. That’s where we committed the deed. 

EM: A lovely story. Do you remember what you performed together right after you got married? 

LB: I went right back into performances at Central City. Where were we after that? I think I went to Miami to do Rossini’s Saliero. Greer was still kicking around, not getting much attention. I’m running my rear off trying to make ends meet. And people were trying to figure out what to do with him. 

GG: [Laughs.] I was trying to figure out what to do with myself. 

EM: Looks like you got some inspiration and luck from Luretta. 

GG: Of course. 

LB: And a lotta help! 

GG: [Laughs.] That’s true. 

EM: That’s what partnerships are about. As for Pirates, this will be the first time San Diego operagoers will see you two perform together on stage. What were some of your previous joint performances?

Photo: Jeff Roffman, Atlanta Opera

LB: We did lots of Carmens. 

GG: Le Nozze di Figaro. I did the Count, she did Cherubino. 

LB: Tales of Hoffmann. We were in the Ring together in Seattle every time. 

GG: Dutchman. 

EM: Yes, I remember it well. 

GG: Early on, Luretta was singing the Page in Salome. I just happened to be there with her and they lost their Second Soldier. I learned it very quickly and jumped in, so we’ve done that together as well [Laughs]. 

LB: And Sweeney Todd. 

EM: Re Salome, while I was at Santa Fe I spoke with their wig director David Zimmerman. Do you know that your head is still there? 

GG: [Laughs] Yes, I do! From when I was John the Baptist. 

LB: We also have one of his heads in a cabinet in the garage, the first one that was ever made. 

GG: [Laughs] You would call it a Paleo head, from the time where they actually put plaster on your face. I had to hold my neck with a towel, in a chair, two straws in my nose, while they applied the plaster to my face to make a mold. It’s seen better days, but I guess in a pinch it could be used [Laughs]. 

LB: I remember having to send it overseas to him for some production. It was wrapped up and I had to declare what it was. It was sort of bizarre trying to explain it to the Fedex guy, “This is my husband’s head for a show.” 

EM: They’ve made movies with that theme. 

LB, GG: [Laugh.] 

EM: Your head is floating around the world. Not many people have that distinction. What are some of the pros and cons of sharing the stage with your spouse?

Photo: Jeff Roffman, Atlanta Opera

LB: I’ve been wondering about that for lots of years. There are cons that people would expect from couples sharing the limelight - egos - but for us there’s never been an egotistical issue, maybe because in a way we’ve been on different trajectories. I love the theatre and I’ve had plenty of time singing title roles. After (daughter) Emma was born, I lost the look for the high pressure of being the person that the show rode on. So, I’m really happy doing secondary roles, which keeps my foot in the door. I’m also in my 15th year of teaching, and am doing a blog. We never butted heads like a lot of our colleagues. Greer, when he’s under pressure doing big parts, doesn’t carry a lot of baggage with it. I remember reading the book about George London, how he would check into a hotel the night before singing Wotan. The family would have to stay away. It was set up early on when we had Emma, and Greer was doing Giovanni, that if he needed to he got up in the middle of the night, rocked her or whatever. So there’s never been this “mystique” around what’s necessary for performing. We tend to perform best when we keep things as normal as possible. 

GG: And oddly enough I’ve never found a downside performing with Luretta. That’s through all situations. No matter what, if there was something we were in need of, advice, whatever, there was never any ego in the way. We always knew we were operating for each other’s best interests. The trust factor is also a part of performing together. Knowing there’s someone there who knows you so well that you trust, who’s also reassuring. 

LB: It sounds Pollyanna-ish, but if you’re really invested in the other person’s well-being and success, all you want to do is celebrate it. It doesn’t pose any problem, really. 

EM: It’s a testament to how balanced you are, as people, as personalities. It’s also the key to a successful partnership offstage. It’s not easy when you’re opera singers, but you seem to come to it from a very balanced perspective. I admire that. 

LB: Don’t get me wrong, we’ve definitely had our ups and downs. 

GG: [Laughs.] 

LB: But we’re on the same page about looking for balance in our lives. That helps a lot. 

EM: Luretta, you’ve performed in a number of lighter operatic works, notably H.M.S. Pinafore and A Little Night Music. For you, Greer, this seems to be more of a departure from your heavier repertoire. What is the appeal for you in works like Pirates?

Photo: Jeff Roffman, Atlanta Opera

GG: The appeal is being together. Early on in my career I did Pirates, Carousel, Desert Song. Student Prince I did several times, also Merry Widow. I think I came to opera because I loved music theatre. I studied classically because I wanted to have an edge in the theatre, and fell in love with opera. But I do love the music theatre genre. I look at it as another facet of performing possibility. When the Pirates opportunity came up in San Diego, we were scheduled to do it with Emma as well. It was originally supposed to be the three of us. That was the big draw, to do this together. Then Emma was employed to do the Phantom of the Opera tour, an opportunity for her that we all agreed was not to be missed. She’s exploring all facets of performing as far as singing is concerned. I think it’s different now for young singers than it was for us. I hope we’ll get away from being segregated as classical artists vs. musical theatre, and it will have a cross-pollination again. 

LB: Also, we love San Diego. I did a Young Artists program there before I really got started. Then I came back for two seasons – Mrs. Sedley in Peter Grimes and one of the dancers in Merry Widow. I’ve made a lot of friends there. We just really like San Diego. 

EM: What’s not to like? 

LB: In roles where it’s just a romp and there’s not a huge amount of pressure, you can really just sit and enjoy a sunset… and we love both the director (Seán Curran) and the conductor (Evan Rogister). We’re so excited about that. Seán is just a ditch - I did a Candide and (to Greer) you did a Salome with him. Remember where we all stripped naked because he wanted us all depraved? [Laughs.] 

GG: [Laughs.] I’m not sure we should include that. 

LB: He wouldn’t care, he loved it. And Evan we met when he was assistant conductor on the Ring cycles in Seattle. 

GG: He’s gone on to have a wonderful career now. I sang with him after the Ring a couple years ago in Salome in Dallas. He’s developed into a fine young conductor. 

EM: About Emma, was she bitten by the performance bug because you encouraged her, or was just around it all the time, or did she come to it on her own? 

GG: I don’t think we’ve come down to a single answer. 

LB: I think the exposure made a huge impression on her. Meeting and getting to know all these fabulous artists who are well beyond petty parts of the business that young singers have to deal with, though sometimes she says she feels very much alone as a young singer because her peers don’t really understand - they’re just learning what happens in big productions in big companies. Diane Zola, who ran the Houston program for years and is artistic administrator there now - she was maid of honor at our wedding, we’re very good friends. About Diane Emma said, “Mom, it’s really hard when people bring up Diane Zola and say she’s so important, and I remember her being at my first birthday party and babysitting me.” But I think Emma is so enamored of the art form of opera. she got a degree in English and Women’s Studies, so there are parts of opera she thinks are chauvinistic and disappointing, but she has a very small group of friends who love opera, and want to see it survive in a good way. They call it, “Fighting the good fight.” Emma describes herself as living at the intersection of opera and musical theatre. In some ways her voice really thrives in musical theatre, she has a propensity for it. But I also remember her singing “C” above high “C” in perfect pitch - she was uncanny that way - and she can hear parts in the orchestra. She sat for hours, listening and never got bored. She was always curious. The stage manager would make her honorary stage manager. Her big treat was rolling up the tape from the floor at the end of rehearsal. We had a closet full of balls of masking tape. 

GG: [Laughs.] I don’t think it was osmosis, but she was exposed constantly. She did go through this phase in high school where she didn’t want to have anything to do with singing. She just stepped back. Then she joined the choir. But she never gave us any inclination that she was driving for it. 

EM: Maybe she didn’t know herself. 

GG: I think so. But it somewhat clarified for her when she got to New Orleans here to study. 

LB: I don’t know - I ask myself this question everyday - I think guiding someone toward passion for a certain art form is a good thing. I remember two things that happened with Emma. One was that she made a comment at some point that she was bored. I said, “You can be bored if you want. Stupid people get bored, and you’re not stupid.” The other thing I said - I caught her at a good time when she was enjoying a rehearsal - was, “Isn’t this exciting?’ she said yes, and I said, “And you’re welcome to be here anytime, as long as you can be quiet and not get yourself in trouble.” That stuck with her. She could sit for hours. Sometimes she would draw pictures of what was going on, or take her own notes for her dad and me. “You should be careful with the spada, the sword, when you’re wrestling with Don José.” 

GG: Yes [Laughs]. 

EM: That’s amazing. 

LB: I guess she really was in love with it, wanted to be a part of it so much. 

EM: What will you two being performing together in the near future? 

LB: The only thing officially on the books and signed is Dutchman in Dallas. Next month at Loyola we’re having a Dramatic Voice Symposium. Peter Volpe will be here, Brenda Harris, Melanie Helton, possibly Allan Glassman, among others, and the two of us. We’re going to do a Gala concert at the end. Plus there’s a discussion of a possible Sweeney Todd that hasn’t been solidified. 

GG: It’s just when the opportunities come up. Sometimes they come up in clusters. Sometimes it takes a while [Laughs]. We’re always looking for that chance. 

EM: And the universe will bring it to you. Opera lovers are always looking for opportunities to see the both of you, and I can’t wait to see you on stage in San Diego! Thank you so much, you two, for spending time with me. 

LB: It’s wonderful to talk to you. 

San Diego Opera’s The Pirates of Penzance will run at the San Diego Civic Theatre from Oct. 14-22  and will be broadcast on October 21, 2017 at 8 PM on KPBS radio, 89.5 FM (97.7 FM Calexico) and online at www.kpbs.org.

Photo: Jeff Roffman, Atlanta Opera

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Photo credits: SORS Seattle, Jeff Roffman, Atlanta Opera

Erica Miner can be reached at: [email protected]

Matthew Shilvock Ponders Priorities, Wagner, Steve Jobs

Photo: Simon Pauly, SF Opera

INTERVIEW: San Francisco Opera

War Memorial Opera House

ERICA MINER

Since his appointment as San Francisco Opera’s seventh General Director, Matthew Shilvock has become known throughout the opera world for his leadership and passion in guiding the company into a well-deserved media spotlight. 

Originally a part of former General Director David Gockley’s transition team, Shilvock assisted Gockley closely in every facet of the company’s management. Now, as newly minted General Director, Shilvock is hands-on, continuing that role: overseeing repertoire, producing community events, administering the company’s Artists Program; and, according to the company’s mission statement, “poised to lead the Company into a bold new era.” 

Two exciting projects are slated for the near future: a return of the company’s 2011 Ring of the Nibelungen (legendary Wagnerian soprano Kirsten Flagstad sang her first complete Ring with the company in 1935), and a co-production with Santa Fe Opera and Seattle Opera of local composer Mason Bates’s boldly creative new opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. 

Erica Miner: You’ve been deeply committed to the cause of the performing arts during your entire career. What led you to the field of executive management in arts administration? 

Matthew Shilvock: I’ve always been a musician. I began piano at age 4, then took on cello and organ. Playing and studying music were always part of my childhood, very much my drive. I began my opera journey at about age 12, seeing a production of what was then the Birmingham Touring Opera, I think, now just Birmingham Opera, Graham Vick’s company, which he established some decades ago as a way to engage the community. It was a really innovative, participatory exploration of the art form for me at that point. The first opera I saw was a contemporary Beauty and the Beast, done in television studios in Birmingham. The audience was part of the action. I loved that sense of participation, my first sense of how engaging opera can be. Then I went on to university in Oxford, reading music. I think that’s where I developed a passion for arts administration. It was both a drive from the perspective of repertoire; and also from the administrative side the complexity of opera really appealed to me, the jigsaw puzzle-like interlocking nature of all these different art forms coming together. So that’s where the real seeds came from, artistic and administrative. 

EM: So that love of opera was first engendered when you were an adolescent, an impressionable time. 

MS: Right. The Welsh National Opera played in a number of cities, including Birmingham - the closest to me - and Oxford. It was a great way to learn the repertoire. I saw a good amount of it through the years. 

EM: Was there any particular repertoire that made the most impression on you when you were first starting out? 

MS: Probably Mozart and Wagner. And Strauss as well. 

EM: Strauss and Wagner go hand in hand. 

MS: Indeed. I remember immersing myself in those Colin Davis Mozart recordings, and really getting to know the Ring and seeing it for the first time in a concert performance in Birmingham Symphony Hall when the Opera was on hiatus. I never got to Götterdämmerung because I came down with mono. So I didn’t make it to the destruction of the world [Laughs].

EM: Eventually you did.

MS: Yes!

EM: Since the announcement of your appointment as General Director, you’ve overseen a plethora of opera activities: simulcasts, commissioning new projects, the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, the professional Artists Training Program, not to mention the company’s ambitious season. Plus you have an active young family. How do you manage it all?

MS: [Laughs] When we first had young children I realized sleep is a luxury in life, so I was well prepared on that front. Having been here for almost 12 years, I knew what the rhythm of the company was, what the demands of the company were, these many layers of things we’re engaging in, so that wasn’t really a surprise. I don’t think my hours have changed that much. David Gockley had been wonderful in letting me into so many parts of the company. I was used to prioritizing things across different departments. I think what is changed is the amount of public-facing activity that one has; you really have to prioritize the limited amount of time you have sitting at a desk actually getting work done, having to be really thoughtful about that. So I’m learning my lesson.

Simon Pauly, SF Opera

EM: It’s only been a year and a half.

MS: [Laughs] But I have to say I love that part of the job. Getting to know the audience, the community, having that interaction with people who come into this building because they just love it so passionately and deeply. It’s quite an infectious energy to pick up on. We have hundreds of people who’ve been subscribing for 40, 50 years or more. There’s a great legacy of dedication to this company. I knew about that but I really experience it now in an even greater way.

EM: People who are passionate about opera to begin with, who are as devoted to opera as they are in this city - it must be incredible for you to be so immersed into every aspect of it day to day.

MS: You walk down the corridors of the Wilsey Center - the top floor is publicly accessible - there are two galleries showing the company’s history. It really gives you something to think about in terms of the legacy, the important work that’s happened on this stage. It’s incumbent upon us to create the next generation of that legacy.

EM: It’s this kind of work that you’re doing that’s so important in order for it to continue.

MS: Yes. The Rigoletto we just closed, for example, even though individual singers may not have the name recognition they used to, the compelling power of what they do on stage is still every bit as impactful. So to hear Quinn Kelsey doing Rigoletto and this new tenor from our program, Pene Pati, doing the Duke, you felt the energy in the house. When you get artistry on the stage that is that powerful the audience knows and reacts to it regardless of name recognition.

EM: As these names become more familiar, people will identify them with Verdi, Mozart, Puccini. That’s what lives forever. You’re carrying this legacy forward. If anything deserves to live forever, it’s opera. I’m not biased of course.

MS: [Laughs.]

EM: One of your missions with the company is to “connect audiences with opera’s emotional core.” Could you comment on the connection between the season that just ended - the three love-oriented operas La Bohème, Don Giovanni and Rigoletto - and the legendary San Francisco “Summer of Love” of the 1960s?

MS: I think opera over the last century has sometimes painted itself into too intellectual a corner. It can be seen as this art form that requires too much knowledge to experience, appreciate and understand. That’s so far from the truth. Opera is one of the most emotional art forms. It renders so many people blubbering messes at the end of La Bohème or Traviata because it speaks to that inner core of who we are as human beings. You don’t need to understand the dramatic details about what disease consumption was, or living conditions in Paris of the 19^th century. You need to understand how they relate to us as human beings now. Those relationships in terms of how we experience tensions, love, tragedy in our own families. That’s why we cry at the end of Bohème - because we feel something personal. It’s the most powerful, visceral thing imaginable. You don’t need a PhD in musicology to understand what’s on the stage. Even if you didn’t have the titles above the stage you’d probably still understand the tragedy at the end of Bohème. For me it’s encouraging the audience, trying to break down that barrier and return opera to its real emotional core. That’s where it’s most successful, what’s kept people coming back time and time again. Opera has sustained itself on a relatively small repertoire for 400 years, what has survived as a canon and regularly played today. Our ability to go back to some of these great pieces is because of their universality, timelessness and emotional core. That’s what we should be playing off as a company.

EM: Timeless is a key phrase. It goes back to the catharsis of the Greeks, then the Florentine Camerata.

MS: It’s so hard to find now, that ability to go into a place and experience something emotionally deep like that. To give oneself the freedom to do that for a few hours is a very special thing.  

EM: Which brings us to the Ring. Everyone I know in the opera world is hugely excited over the return of your 2011 production of Wagner’s Ring (https://sfopera.com/ring/) next summer. Would you say this overall excitement is matched within the company?

MS: I do think there’s a huge excitement for the Ring. I think people see it as the epitome of what a company can do. There’s a relatively small number of companies that do it, and with the kind of dramatic sweep that we had here in 2011 - to bring that back with a different cast but with the same foundational guidance of Donald Runnicles and Francesca Zambello, I think we’re in for something very special. The audience is responding very well. Ticket sales are above this time last spring. People seem passionately connected to this interpretation. It’s strong storytelling that resonates with an American aesthetic without being a difficult overlay of narrative on top of Wagner. It really exists to unlock Wagner’s narrative. The little things like the Citizen Kane-inspired Valhalla, or Brünnhilde’s rock being modeled on the Marin headlands - you don’t need to know those things, the opera exists successfully without knowing those things, but they’re little glimpses of comfort and connection. I think this particular conception of the Ring is one of the most successful pieces of dramatic storytelling, where you really feel at the end of 16 hours like you’ve gone on a deep and profound journey. I think the company, the audience, are really excited for it.

Photo: Simon Pauly, SF Opera

EM: Everybody’s rallying around. You say the word and it’s like a magical key to opening a door.

MS: [Laughs.]

EM: How would you describe Zambello’s “visionary” concept in this production?

MS: There’s two particular things I really admire in what she’s doing and has talked about in terms of framing this. One, is that it’s a family drama. Though it’s a story of gods, monsters, heroes, creatures, it ultimately comes down to a family story of about 20 people. That sustains itself through the course of the Ring. Again it comes back to that emotion of universality and connection to us as individuals. I think Francesca really makes those characters approachable on a more human scale. Wotan’s angst around his disappearing power is very much identified with one generation passing knowledge and leadership to the next generation. There’s anguish, tension of both letting go and also being proud of their taking the world forward. There’s a great immediacy in how she portrays these characters, even the lofty gods. The second is the critical role she gives Brünnhilde. Francesca’s conception that’s fundamental in Wagner’s conception is that Brünnhilde is the hero of the Ring. Wotan spends the first couple of operas looking for the hero that’s going to save the gods without realizing the hero is his own daughter. The way Brünnhilde emerges at the end is a very redemptive role. Francesca has said that she’s tried a number of different endings. Probably she’ll still keep refining the ending as we go into this cycle, to make sure it’s as powerfully stated as possible.

EM: To make something even more powerful than it is, that’s something not to be missed. And that continuity - you become invested in the characters at the beginning, then develop your own relationship with them.

MS: Exactly. To find those elements of the Ring that draw out your own life experiences. We have a young daughter now, so I think I will see the end of Walküre very differently than I did in 2011. That’s something I love about the Ring, it’s so multidimensional. Whatever stage of life you’re at you’re going to find a different point of reference.

EM: That’s one of the reasons people follow the Ring all over the world. It’s the same for me, playing it. I found something new and different every time that I didn’t realize was there.

MS: Motifs you didn’t notice before.

EM: Or connecting one motif to another. So as a performer you develop a relationship with it.

MS: It’s a great adventure, a great journey. Our hope is that people will make the journey in an engaging space, coming out of it feeling a great sense of having accomplished something as a listener.

Next, Part 2: Leadership, Creating a New Canon and Collective Sustainability

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Photo credits: SF Opera

Erica Miner can be reached at: [email protected]